| 2021.04.24 |
I was stunned when Laurel photographed a signed and numbered Itzchak Tarkay
from the thirft shop she and a friend were visiting.
I can't wait to welcome those lovely ladies into our home!
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| 2014.11.01 |
I was THRILLED to receive for my birthday a giclée of Audrey Leamon's "Hush"!
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| 2013.12.11 |
Laurel gave me this lovely painting a family friend did of a scene in a local park.
It looks beautiful in our bedroom:
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| 2013.01.15 |
The image I'm using to represent the new motorcycle topic
and the Interests section comes with kind permission of Gordon Calder.
I requested permission to use this image because it closely resembles the engine on a motorcycle
I'm considering for purchase.
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| 2012.11.30 |
Isn't it funny?
I logged onto the site and saw mention of the anniversary of acquiring this piece in
TWIhH —
just like I did three years ago.
I don't get to visit with the piece very often anymore — it's hung in my daughter's
bathroom since we moved into the house. Before that, it hung in the spare bedroom
(my "office") of my apartment.
I ought to explain its present location. Her spacious bathroom is the second floor
of an addition that was made to our home in recent years. The bathroom is the size
of the living room below it, but with a vaulted ceiling. It's currently decorated
in a semi-aquatic fashion — so the Wyland piece actually fits right in. It hangs
on a wall sort of out of the way of actual water and traffic flow, and really does
make a contribution.
But one of the things I really liked about it was how it reacted when struck by
natural light. The fish really lit up and seemed to nearly fluoresce.
Besides, having it in a higher-traffic area would keep me in closer spiritual
contact with my dad. I mean, I have other artifacts that help me think of him —
other art of his, in fact. Succinctly, more is better.
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| 2012.06.04 |
Audrey Leamon's latest water studies are on display at The Collective through the
end of the month. I particularly liked "First Time Place 2". Pictured below: "Hush".
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| 2012.04.06 |
I was happy to learn that Greg Nelson, a photographer specializing in black-and-white,
silver gelatin and palladium process photography, has a show at The Collective, the Topeka-based art gallery where
I found and purchased a print of a lovely and lonely work called "Spearville, KS." The opening reception
for "The Brickmakers" is this evening. The show runs through April 28th.
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| 2010.09.15 |
I was REALLY excited to see that a new art gallery opened up in town — and in the mall!
What a perfect place for it! In the new gallery I found a limited edition Itzchak Tarkay — a
piece unnamed by the gallery but identified by a few different web sites as "Lady in Blue." The
piece I found is an artist's proof, and earlier this week I gave that lovely lady a ride home.
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| 2010.08.14 |
[Detroit Free Press] A federal judge has thrown out a
jury's verdict and ordered a new trial in Park West Gallery's defamation suit against the Global
Fine Arts Registry and it's founder, Teri Franks, who claim Park West defrauded customers at art auctions.
Franks has posted more than 200 articles and videos and helped customers obtain more than $2MM
in refunds from Park West. The 55-page decision voided a $500,000 damage award Franks was to receive
after Park West filed a $46MM defamation suit against her.
Full story
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| 2010.07.10 |
[Detroit Free Press] Chilean artist Alex Perez filed a lawsuit against
Park West Gallery and Smart Publishers with the US District Court in Detroit on Friday, July 9, 2010. Perez alleges Smart
Publishers fraudulently awarded Park West a contract to reproduce and sell his artwork without his permission.
Perez accuses both of copyright infringement, seeks payment for his work and for the reproductions to cease.
Full story
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| 2010.04.22 |
[Detroit Free Press] A federal
jury in Port Huron awarded $500,000 to Global Fine Arts Registry and its founder, Theresa Franks, for
trademark violations involving registry Web sites. . . . The Fine Arts Registry, which devotes part
of its Web site to exposing fraud and deception in the art world, said it began investigating Park
West after reading news accounts and receiving customer complaints. . . . Park West sued for defamation
in 2008, alleging that the registry engaged in a smear campaign by posting articles saying Park West had
sold overpriced, forged and fraudulent artwork to unsuspecting customers during auctions aboard cruise
ships. The registry countersued, charging [, a]mong other things, the registry said Park West had
created Web sites with names similar to the registry's to divert readers. The registry said those
Web sites made disparaging remarks about the registry. Full Story
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| 2009.11.28 |
Doing some development on the site today when I noticed in TWIhH that I wrote about acquiring the Wyland three years ago this week.
Just seems weird to me it was that long ago. I bought it in memory of my late father, who had passed away a month before. It is hung in my
home office here, and I think of him every time I view it. I made sure to hang it opposite of the window in order to show off the brilliant
tropical color Wyland uses on the underseascape.
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| 2009.09.20 |
One of the paintings from my parents' collection was done in palette knife and was signed "Camprio." Tonight I replaced the image on my Welcome form with a digital reproduction of a small portion of this work.
I thought I'd do a little digging for information on Camprio on the web and found a number of conflicting posts on one particular board. Although the artist's name and birth details are inconsistent, all who posted noted the artist's mastery of the palette knife and penchant for Mediterranean Sea scenes. Holland was also mentioned with some frequency. It is said that Camprio "developed a unique syle of depicting Dutch landscapes on canvas with a palette knife technique that is considered by many important art critics to be exceptional in detail, color, and artistic conformation. This is a difficult form of art and Camprio has mastered all of its intricacies."
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| 2009.03.04 |
While on vacation this past week, I invested in two works from Alexandra Nechita and one from Michael Godard. The Nechitas are HUGE — I believe they will displace some other art we currently have up (my guess is the Bergstroms and maybe one of the Barnes will move). But I've got a nice little spot for the Godard already. Of Godard, some say "You may love him, you may hate him, but EVERYBODY looks at his work." He is very popular. Alexandra Nechita was discovered when she was NINE. Given the moniker "The Petite Picasso" for her abstract works, she is now in her twenties and working on a master's degree... in art. Her original works sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars (and believe me, her seriolithographs aren't cheap, either)... no pressure, prof!
What I liked about each: The Godard is just plain fun; One of the Nechitas is, as I see it, a tribute piece to my mother (just don't tell her!); my wife connected with the other Nechita fairly strongly — also through family ties, though not quite as personally.
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| 2008.05.25 |
Visited the East Lansing Art Fair last weekend. Check out The Nature Preserve for some amazing nature photography, and James Richmond Photography for some beautiful Caribbean scenes.
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| 2008.05.07 |
I'm pretty excited to say I've made contact with the gallery to which one of my favorite artists supplies her original works (there HAS to be a better way to say that). Over this past weekend, two people from the gallery actually took photos of several of her new works for us to consider. I'm thinking of something for a far wall in the kitchen (away from the appliances).
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| 2007.06.30 |
I was reading an article in Smithsonian Magazine about Edward Hopper
when I came upon an image of his 1950 "Rooms by the Sea." It immediately reminded me of Bruce Hornsby's Harbor Lights album because this painting is pictured on the cover.
(So what did I do about it?)
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| 2007.05.16 |
The latest task was to get some nice lighting up over the frames of some of our work. I did some searching on the Web and found Lighting Universe had some reasonable prices on some simple lamps, both battery and AC powered. The corded lamps were especially
nice because they have dimmers built inline. The lamps I bought were pretty basic, but they had others that were super sharp. I ordered four lamps, and they were here before
I knew it. One note about the battery-powered lamp I bought: It takes four D-cell batteries. Bolt the lamp mount to the wall, not to the frame of your piece.
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| 2007.02.21 |
Wyland's "Nature's Paradise" finally arrived today. I've got to say, we've not had a whole lot of luck with the distributor from whom we purchased the piece.
I'm still hopeful we can appreciate the piece for what we originally saw in it instead of all of the drama involved in actually getting it here.
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| 2006.11.26 |
While on a trip earlier this month, I visited one of the Wyland galleries and purchased one of his new works.
"Nature's Paradise" has special meaning because it has elements which made it a suitable tribute to my late father.
Dad credited himself with my interest in art and always enjoyed visiting me in the Florida Keys. The piece combines
Wyland's famous, vibrant underseascapes with a view of a tropical island. The view of the island makes me think of Dad's visits, and of the Florida Keys, where Wyland painted a
murial on a building by the waterfront.
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| 2006.09.21 |
Representing the original interests section [was] an image of
"Sails and Shells" by A. E. Barnes. Apart from the appeal of her näive style,
the prominent subjects of her still life have personal meaning for me.
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